


You Didn't Want Me

by GalahadWilder



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Post Chloenette, Post Chlonette, Post Kagaminette, Post Lukanette, Post Marigami, Post Reveal, Pre Relationship, post reveal pre relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2020-10-13 17:16:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20586125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalahadWilder/pseuds/GalahadWilder
Summary: Years after the reveal, Ladybug finally confesses to Chat that she's in love with him.





	You Didn't Want Me

"I love you. Like... I'm _in_ love with you."

Chat Noir nearly falls off the Eiffel Tower.

He’s been waiting five years to hear those words from her lips. Imagined how they’d sound. Lovingly rendered each syllable in his mind so many times that he thinks that he might know if she spoke them in Wenzhou, or Swedish, or even /Xhosa. And yet he’s long given up on ever hearing them. Watched her with Luka, with Kagami, with Chloé, assumed there was no place in her heart for him other than as a friend and partner. Resolved to hold his heart shut, to love her from a distance.

He’s dreaming. He _must_ be dreaming.

“And—and I know—I know—” Ladybug says, not looking at him, and there are _tears_ on her eyelashes, those beautiful blue eyes are crying behind the spotted mask and he has no idea what to do. “I know you don’t—don’t feel the same. I _know_ that.”

“Mari—” he says, but his diaphragm chooses the worst moment to freeze, to steal the air from his lungs and leave him with nothing with which to make words.

“I’ve tried—” She sobs, wiping her eyes. “I’ve tried so hard to stop loving you.” Her fists curl against her shaking knees. “I’ve _tried_ to move on, I _have_, I swear, but I—” Her voice drops to a whisper. “Adrien,” she says. “None of them are _you_.”

Chat Noir has always prided himself on having _something_ to say. In every situation. He’s completely speechless now. Slack-jawed.

“You don’t want me,” she says, drawing her knees into her chest, making herself even smaller than she normally is. “You don’t—you… you’re the most important person in my life, Chaton, and I don’t—” She coughs out a sob, her entire body shivering with the force. “I’m sorry,” she says, rocking slightly. “I—I shouldn’t have said anything. Let’s just—let’s forget the whole thing, okay? We can… pretend this never happened, we can—”

“Why?” he whispers.

Her eyes flutter open, and he sees her irises flick toward him, but she doesn’t unfold.

“Why would I?” he says. “Forget. Pretend. Bug—” He chokes. “Marinette. Princess. My Lady—I’ve been waiting five years to—to hear you say those words.” His jaw quivers. “Please don’t take them back now.”

She stares at him, depthless blue eyes unblinking. “Oh,” she says, disappointment filling her voice. “I’m—I’m dreaming.” Her face falls, and she sobs, slamming a fist into the i-beam they’re currently perched on. “I’m dreaming _again_.”

He reaches out, caresses her face, but she turns away. “Please,” she whispers. “Don’t.”

Chat draws back, confused.

Ladybug shakes her head. “Adrien doesn’t—doesn’t _do_ romance,” she says. “It makes him—anyone getting close like that, it makes him uncomfortable. That’s why the, the mystery coworker. That’s why Chat Noir keeps proclaiming his love for _me_.” She drops her head between her knees. “It keeps him off the market.”

“Did he—” Chat clears his throat. “Did he tell you that?” He knows he didn’t. Or at least… he’s pretty sure. It’s not _true_. She knows that, right? The mystery coworker—he thought she knew!

“He didn’t need to,” she says. “Just… look at the way he reacts when anyone makes romantic advances. Like he wants to leap out a window.” She looks at him, her eyes soft and sad. “I never—I never wanted—” She sobs again, burying her head into her elbow.

“Bugaboo—” He reaches out, touches her arm. “You…”

“Why else would he never date anyone?” she whispers into her elbows.

“_Because I was waiting for you!” _he cries.

Her head snaps around.

“You never wanted me!” he says, throwing his arms outward. “Every time I said anything, you brushed me off! Or turned me down, or…” He slumps his head. “And—and Marinette never—you never wanted to spend time with me unless… unless Nino and Alya were around.”

She stares at him, her mouth open.

“After the…” He waggles his claws. “You know, after we knew… I thought—I thought maybe Marinette might finally… be able to stand me, you know?”

“_Stand_ you?” Ladybug yelps. “Adrien, I—I—I…”

“But…” He sighs. “Then you had Luka.” He leans back against the strut. “And then Kagami, and Chloé, and then you were talking about that guy Jagged introduced you to…” He closes his eyes. “I never wanted anyone but you. You were my everything.” He stops, presses a hand against his forehead. Feels his claws catch against his bangs. “Were—_are_. You _are _my everything.”

Ladybug curls up, presses her palms against her temples. “No,” she whispers. “No, that can’t be—that can’t be right. You can’t—you didn’t—”

Chat laughs darkly. “I figured, if you didn’t love me, I could at least love you. From a distance, where I couldn’t hurt you. You never needed to know.”

“All this time,” Ladybug whispers. “You were waiting for _me?”_

Chat nods. “Always have,” he says. “Always will.”

Her fingers are around his bell. She’s pulling him forward. He can feel her tears slide from her lips to his as they press together, and little gods—his heart won’t beat. His lungs won’t breathe. His mind won’t think.

She breaks away with a gasp. “I love you, Adrien,” she says. “I love you. I love Chat Noir. I’ve loved you both since the day we met.”

Chat’s lungs collapse as he curls in on himself. “N-no,” he whispers. “This isn’t—this isn’t right.”

“What?”

“This has to be an—an Akuma.” He looks up at her—can feel the wetness in his eyes. “I’m not… _allowed_ to be this happy. It just doesn’t happen.”

“Oh, _Chaton_,” Ladybug says, her face shining with tears. She presses her hand against his cheek. “We’re so damn stupid.” She smiles. “Remember Dark Cupid?”

He glares at her. “You know damn well that I do not.”

She giggles, and oh, she’s sparkling again, she’s—“A kiss,” she says. “A kiss breaks the Akuma’s spell.”

He doesn’t object.

(He _does_ ask her to test it a few extra times, just to make sure.)


End file.
